Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary: October 1, 2010

Great video above (called “Africa – States of Independence – Nigeria”) from Al-Jazeera about Nigeria at 50. Wonderful rudimentary run through of Nigeria since 1960. It also features great feature length interviews with people like Wole Soyinka and Ibrahim Babangida, and video footage of Nigeria’s past leaders like Ironsi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, General Yakubu Gowon, Phillip Effiong, Olusegin Obasanjo, and footage from the 1966 pogroms and civil war.

Warning – there are some harrowing scenes of dying/suffering during Biafra.

As Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary (October 1, 2010) is only around the corner, I thought some of you nostalgic folks would like some of these vintage images and video clips from Nigeria’s past. Read, view and enjoy….

If you want to know why Nigeria’s first Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was called the “The Golden Voice of Africa”, watch this interview with him. The man had impeccable erudition:

We are celebrating our 50 years anniversary. We are celebrating 50 years of failure, suffering and bad governance. What is the joy of celebrating Nigeria at 50? They don’t produce anything.let look our countries that we started with in the same year like Malaysia are already developed and we are still toddlers.“What are we celebrating? Failures, bad governance, bad infrastructure, HIV/AIDS and paying youths corps members N9,000 when the people at the top are getting billions dollars,euros and so on in and outside nigeria. My advice to all nigerian leaders and we followers let runs away from 50 things that can distory or break up 50yrs united of nigeria and 50 things that can promote our nation forward. happy annversary in advence

Nigeria my beloved country you remain in this struggle not because you cannot stand and take your position as the giant of africa,but because your leaders and its people have refused to allow you the chance,but i believe in you and i hope that our struggle will not be in vain ,God/allah ,help us to fight those things that stops us from being in unity and keep us to share those things that that brings us love,our country is not a failure.I believe in you nigeria,u will rise again happy 5oth annivasary – franklin

Things would end up fine this i know so well. the future is bright for our youths. we would fight and many more would continueto fight for them to have a better future and enlightened knowledge knowledge. stay blessed

Frankly there ain’t a thing to celebrate.I mean how does one celebrate massive corruption and ineptitude, crushing poverty and overpopulation,lack of coherent policy and much slouching to nowhere in particular? Are these things to celebrate? I don’t think so personally.If you are content with these failures then the next 50 years will certainly be more frightening.

Nigeria is a country so blessed yet so poor.It is an irony.The only escape route out of this predicament is the emergence of crop of leaders who are focused,visionary and revolutionary minded.They are the needed ones essential for the change that must come quickly.I will be surprised that Dr Goodluck Jonathan possessed those qualities.I doubt it more than anything!

Actuallly I don’t expect Goodluck to do better than his predecessors because those corrupted Criminals are still part of his regime like OBJ,T.Y.Danjuma,IBB, ex-state and central bank governors, ministers and senators, fake government contractors, local government chairmen/Woman etc. Since these men were moving freely in Nigeria without courtmarshaled, croocked activities will continue and economy developement will continue sinking every day. What about money they laundered to their foreign bank accounts? which goverment can stand strongly to question those money tranfer? The foreign banks are ready to release the duplicate for the whole crooked transfer hence U.N is concern. The pro-election killings in the North had proved to the human-right-activies that the Nation is still disoriented and confused that need to brought to question for their 1960 phantom independence and acclaimed democracy.
It will be better for the masses to stage a peacefull demostration just like North Africans to request for “Re-clonization” from the western world. If such happened within a space of time you could notice what we can achieve when the wise people will be in authority. Graduation from the highest university in the world is different from Wisdom. If you are naturally wise you must have conscience and when you have human conscience you always love to do the right thing to yourself and others.

Max, Their post is obscure and more dangerous than the official post you know about. These men were kingmakers and had help the president elect in one way or the other in order to cover their evil doings or getting probed while nominating their own people for V.I.P positions.
Bye-the-way why must these men be moving freely in that country whether they acquired a post or not?